October 2008 Archives

The Un-Presidential Debate

Nardine Saad
| October 10, 2008 4:48 PM TrackBacks (0) Comments (0)
If Sen. John McCain ever tried to disassociate his persona from George Bush's, he failed miserably at Tuesday night's debate in Nashville, Tenn. McCain seemed restless, combative, creepy and sometimes sniveling. His lame attempts at jokes seemed inappropriate despite the less formal town hall forum. 

The town hall style itself...was as bad as McCain's jokes. 

Sen. Barack Obama began to answer each question strongly then got caught up in political rhetoric that lost me and certainly viewers. Though he stuttered sometimes and struggled to answer, his charisma still managed to win me over, especially how peaceful he seemed when taking criticism from McCain. McCain just laughed off criticism and joked about it. I don't know about you, but I want my next president to take the people's criticism seriously. 


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A Coptic Church, a Coptic Wedding

Nardine Saad
| October 3, 2008 3:59 PM TrackBacks (0) Comments (2)

I Googled my name one day in search of this very blog (don't judge, you know you've done it, too). To my surprise, a few hits down, in caps was "NICHOLAS RIEGELS and NARDINE SAAD Wedding." Huh? Last I checked I wasn't getting married, nor was there the prospect of an engagement in sight. So, being curious about this person who shared my name, I clicked on the site.

It wasn't me, obviously. But I do know the couple getting married. After I got over the shock of the Google's revelation, I remembered it was a wedding I was actually invited to. The bride and I have the same name, my parents copied it for me from their friends' Nadra and Saad, whom they've known since the 80s. Nardine is not a common name so I share a sense of camaraderie with anyone who has it--the schoolyard teasing "Nardine Sardine," the constant neglect of the "r" that drives me crazy and, most of all, its meaning. Nardine is the Arabic translation of "spikenard," a fragrant herb used to make the oil Mary, Lazarus' sister, used to anoint Jesus' Christ's feet.

Nardine, who I mentioned is a long time friend, is Coptic Orthodox--a traditional form of Christianity that began in Egypt under the See of St. Mark around 43 A.D. The following is a slideshow of St. Mark's Church where her and Nicholas' wedding took place on October 4, 2008.

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